>> as many of the homeowners sign for for cleanup help from local governments. jenelle? >> cheryl, the large task of removing all this debris began at 8:00 this morning. you see a couple of the excavators behind me. they're sitting on properties crews will be working on today. this heavy equipment will move

from property to property day by day until all the ash, all the debris is gone. >> today this heavy equipment moves in. over the next month crews will move out with less of the san bruno neighborhood. >> they realize this is someone's home and they will treat it with the just most respect. if somebody buried a pet, we want to know where that is so we keep the equipment off that area. >> the explosion and fire two weeks ago today incinerated 33 homes. three other homes have been red-tagged. most of those homeowners have given crews the okay to start the cleanup. today they tackle three homes across from the blast site. the entire cleanup is expected to take three to four weeks. the cost? about $2 million. water will be sprayed constantly to keep dust at a minimum. and air monitors will be used

every day to check for toxic levels. >> at this point the air quality is very good. we are seeing nothing on the mortars, nothing on the samabling. i was out here yesterday with the wind and there was no dust at all. >> crews will have a checklist for each property after each one is done. what you see now will basically be a dirt lot and property owners can start rebuilding their homes and their lives. >> we have the memories of those homes that were there. and how our neighborhood was before. and it's not the same. and it will never be the same. >> we're not living in the houses yet. and every time i drive up here, i just get -- getting emotional now. it's just not gonna be the same. just not. even when they build. >> yeah. crews say 75% of the debris can be recycled. that's because it's mostly concrete. the cars, the burnt out cars can be recycled. the remaining 25% of the debris

will be taken to a landfill in solano county. reporting live in san bruno, i'm jenelle wang, abc 7 news. >> thanks, jenelle. terry mcsweeney is live in san francisco where the public utilities commission has just voted to have pg&e pay for the explosion investigation. terry? >> yeah. that came down in the past half hour. they're also asking for a blue ribbon panel, independent investigator. take a look at pg&e to see if they need to change the way they're doing business. the entire meeting started off with a moment of silence, really put things in perspective and that was for jacqueline greg who died in the fire in san bruno two weeks ago. she would have been 45 today. the commission is taking a look at the topic of finding out what caused the explosion that led to that fire, what to do to prevent it from happening again. they want to restore confidence in pg&e's ability to deliver gas and still maintain a sense of urgency in the investigation. the puc telling them to pay for

the investigation and pg&e saying they will comply. >> we were expecting this from the commission and we will comply fully with any funding that puc deems necessary for pg&e on this investigation. >> as for preventing such tragedies in the future, the puc is proposing that panel to find out what happened in san bruno. is that a one-time event or is the problem systemic. maybe the utility could have done more to prevent it. pg&e spokesman could not tell how this investigation is going to be paid for, if it's going to be through shareholders' profits or a rate hike. that still has to be determined. david louie is inside now. we'll have much more for you at 5:00 and 6:00. live in san francisco, terry mcsweeney, abc 7 news. >> thanks, terry. in orinda it took pg&e crews six hours to stop a natural gas leak. the pipe was cut by a construction crew late last night. it was the third leak reported

in the last 24 hours. someone hit a gas main near camino pablo around 11:30 p.m.. it was capped about 5:30 this morning. more than two dozen homes were briefly evacuated as a precaution. no injuries were reported. in millbrae, a gas main forced a section of el camino real to shut down just before 6:00 last night. everything was clear and the road reopened about two hours later. the third leak happened yesterday at the cal state east bay campus in hayward on the first day of classes. a construction crew there hit a 2-inch gas line. no evacuations were ordered. >> castro valley. check out this man's precarious pech in a cherry picker. we have a picture here for you from sky 7 hd. it tooks police on hampton road, he was stuck there a little less than an hour. a firefighter secured him with a safety harness and the man climbed down on his own. >> oakland police are investigating a shoot-out that injured at least two people outside a nightclub. it happened around 2:00 this

morning at a club called caribbean city on webster street. bullets hit at least two cars as well bass a nearby building. the whole thing may have started as a fight or robbery outside the club and then escalated into a shooting. the two victims were taken to the hospital. it is still unclear how seriously they are injured. police say they have no suspects. marin county prosecutors have charged a 16-year-old boy with manslaughter in a crash that killed a 15-year-old boy and injured four others. the driver of the bmw was likely speeding when he lost control and hit a cattle truck in novato last friday. hit broadside in the crash. the 17-year-old boy has major injuries. two others passengers were not seriously hurt. >> alameda prosecutors spent thousands of dollars during the bart police shooting trial. the contra costa times reports the total bill for the district attorney's office total $144,000. the trial for mehserle was moved

to los angeles. prosecutors spent $25,000 on airfare, $55,000 on lodging, and another $17,000 in other hotel costs. mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of unarmed passenger oscar grant. >> a controversial diabetes will stay on the market but the government puts tighter restrictions on it. the story coming up. >> but first the republicans offer a new pledge to american voters today. how they say they will take that control of congress. >> and the woman that's freed from a tehran prison, a u.c. berkeley graduate, tells her berkeley graduate, tells her man: we need a sofa. something i can stretch out on! woman: ooh... that will go with those lamps my mother gave us. or we could get some new lamps. or we could get no sofa. negotiating, eh?

you got it! how about a nice home for our tv? how about doors to hide that drive-in theater? how about a cowhide rug? yee-haw! and the snacks? get their own place. let the marathon begin!

>> closed captioning brought to you by mancini sleepworld. >> today is the day several key provisions of president obama's healthcare reform law go into effect. starting this morning insurance companies can no longer set a dollar limit over the course of a lifetime on hospital stays or other benefits. other changes include adults under the age of 26 will now be covered by their parents employer-based insurance, children under 19 with preexisting conditions cannot be denied coverage. preventive service like vaccinations and mammograms must be covered under existing plans. house vowing to repeal the president's healthcare plans. revealed their pledge to america at a virginia lumberyard. the document will guide them

should they gain a majority of seats in the upcoming midterm elections. >> in order to create jobs, we need to end the uncertainty for job creators and the spending spree in washington. reform congress itself. >> democrats dismissed the gop plan as recycled ideas that would make the nation's problems even worse. president obama delivered a major speech of his own today addressing the u.n. general assembly. he urged world leaders to push past years of cynicism and pessimism and press towards middle east peace. the president's challenge weeks after he helped relaunch peace talks between the israelis and the palestinians. >> if an agreement is not reached, palestinians will never know the pride and dignity that comes with their own state.

israelis will never know the certainty and security that comes with sovereign and stable neighbors who are committed to coexist. >> on other topics, mr. obama called on iran to improve its intent on nuclear program. the goal of turning over control to the afghan government beginning next july, and he expressed his support for u.n. efforts to protect the rights of women. he urged all nations to act against oppression. cheryl? >> eric, oprah winfrey has a special guest today, sarah shourd. the graduate was freed from an iranian prison nine days ago. shored, her fiancee and josh fattal were arrested hiking near iraq and iran. she was released for health and humanitarian reasons but the other two remained in prison. >> why were you hiking there? >> that's the big question.

people are not informed about northern iraq. there's tons of tourist information online. many people from all over the world travel there. >> so there's no fighting there? >> there's no fighting there. there's wonderful museums and amazing food. most importantly it's a very unique culture, british culture in the region. >> you can see oprah's full interview with sarah shourd today at 4:00 here on abc 7. mike nicco ahead with the forecast. >> pretty bright and a lot calmer than yesterday. starting to feel the effects of that warming trend. look at the port of oakland. how much warmer it's going to be this weekend and hit some triple digits this weekend. i'll show you where. >> all right, mike. thank you. a recall was issued after a troubling discovery was made inside millions of cans of baby formula. and was it a coverup? what one woman says

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♪ there is a huge baby formula recall to report this morning. millions of containers of similac -- that's the best selling formula in the

u.s. -- may be contaminated with bugs or bug parts. the recall does not affect any liquid formulas. the food and drug administration says there's no immediate health risk to babies. abbott labs have set up a web link where you can center a lot number to see if it's involved in the recall and you can find that link on our website at abc7news.com. click on "see it on tv." abbott says it will provide a full refund for any affected cans. >> health regulators in europe have banned the diabetes drug avantia. here in the u.s. doctors can still prescribe it but stricter guidelines. it has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack. the fda says new patients can use it only if they are unable to control their blood sugar with other medications. glasgow smith klein is the maker of that drug. >> did i hear someone say maybe triple digits for about a week now? >> summer's now here!

>> a warming trend. eric, you have to spend some extra money to keep the house cool. i'll be with you there and so will a lot of people or heading to the coast to maybe jump in that 50 degree water. (laughter) >> let's take a look outside, show you what's going on. the water temperature about 56, 58 degrees in some areas. beautiful picture from south beach. looking back. you can see sutro tower, twin peak. hardly a cloud to be found in our sky. even as we look. that beautiful picture of ballmer peak looking back towards mount tamalpais. our air quality is going to be good wildfire with the hottest weather hitting this weekend, hopefully we will get away with this heat wave, get away without having to deal with any type of pollution problems. temperatures still in the 50s in the hills around los gatos. 59. but low to mid-60s most neighborhoods. upper 60s in concord, fairfield and antioch. around the monterey bay with 55 monterey thanks to that northwesterly wind.

mid-60s santa cruz and the first day of fall and the warming trend begins under mostly sunny skies. the key to this forecast compared to something that would happen august, july or june. the nighttime because it's longer should become fairly comfortable. those why we don't have heat advisories out now. warmer temperatures saturday, sunday, monday, probably tuesday. santa rosa 6, oakland, concord and san jose 8 degrees. anytime you calm the wind in san francisco, you know you get a big temperature jump. about 12 degrees to 74. we have a cold front to our north. it's trying to push a few high clouds into our neighborhoods. for the most part it is going to be sunny today with temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s down in the south bay with san jose right in the middle with 80. on the peninsula mid to upper 70s. not as breezy as yesterday at

the coast. temperatures upper 60s to near 70 sunset and daly city. mid-70s downtown and south san francisco. low 80s the north bay valleys. your beaches in the upper 60s today with sunshine. east bay shore mid to upper 70s most neighborhoods. richmond about 72 degrees. east bay valleys low to mid-80s with concord, walnut creek 82. same morgan hill, gilroy, hollister. watsonville, mid to upper 60s monterey and caramel. warm weather to the central valley, mid-80s there. 94 yosemite, 93 palm springs. here's what i mean by comfortable conditions tonight. open the windows if you dare and low to mid-50s with north bay valley at the coast. seven-day forecast, we're about 48 degrees warmer tomorrow and tomorrow all the way through next wednesday we'll be above 90 inland. low to mid-80s around the bay and low to mid-70s at the coast. should peak on monday. that's when we're going to hit the triple digits inland, near

90 around the bay. may see 80s at the coast. >> all those people waiting for summer finally here. >> it's here. >> thank you, mike. >> be prepared to come up with a little extra cash for your next coffee drink at starbucks. it has been absorbing the rising cost of coffee beans but now will pass it on to consumers. the large drinks will be most affected but won't say exactly which ones. backs of coffee beans are also likely to go up in price. but basic drinks like a tall coffee is likely to remain much the same. >> a major steering error that caused the titanic to sink. a granddaughter of the senior office said that's what happened. her grandfather was second officer. he told his wife the steering officer panicked and inadvertently steered into an iceberg in april in 1912 because it was not used to the new steering system. more than 1500 people died. patent says her grandfather felt

admitting the error would have triggered lawsuits. >> i'm the only living person who knows why titanic sank. it was a terrible mistake. >> she said the ship sank so fast because the owner urged the captain to continue moving instead of cutting the engines. it coincides with the release of her new novel about the titanic. >> enjoy

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>> today at 5:00, mammograms may not be as effective as believed. >> from high fashion to burning floors. >> arts and entertainment reporter don sanchez has what's hot. ♪ >> she was beautiful, wealthy and unhappy. opera of san jose in california theater. the mill valley saturdays festival features beautiful art in the spectacular setting of redwood in the historic mill

valley. the spirit of mu nick comes to the bay at pier 48 at the waterfront. check out the blues festival. passionate, sizzling. before "dancing with the stars," there was burn the floor with australians and san jose in the center for performing art. celebrating mexican culture with a festival in san jose this weekend. check out the salsa festival in redwood city on saturday. ♪ ♪ >> the lives of women and men diagnosed with breast cancer. the marin center. a race for the cure along the embarcadero. a run and walk for breast cancer. ♪ how much is that doggie in the

window. ♪ >> the historical radio society honors members of the hall of fame saturday night at the double tree in berkeley. don sanchez, abc 7 unanimous. >> haven't seen one of those in -- >> i know! >> >> all new. oprah: the american hiker held in iran. sarah shourd is here for her first television interview. >> then -- oprah: the craigslist rape survivor reveals her identity oprah: the craigslist rape survivor reveals her identity and what really happpppppppppppp

man: we need a sofa. something i can stretch out on! woman: ooh... that will go with those lamps my mother gave us. or we could get some new lamps. or we could get no sofa. negotiating, eh? you got it! how about a nice home for our tv? how about doors to hide that drive-in theater? how about a cowhide rug? yee-haw! and the snacks? get their own place. let the marathon begin!